On Sunday, the Detroit Lions finally managed to secure their first win of the NFL season. After 11 tries, Dan Campbell's men made the breakthrough against division rivals the Minnesota Vikings.
The 29-27 win came after Jared Goff threw a touchdown pass with 0:02 left on the clock in the last quarter to give Lions fans an early Christmas present. Former Vikings coach Mike Tice was clearly upset as his former side slumped to a terrible loss. Tice took to Twitter to vent his frustration.
Warning: use of expletives
The former tight end, who played in the NFL for 14 years and was the Vikings' head coach for four years, was not happy with the performance his former team put out, and rightly so.
Vikings become first team to lose to Detroit
Sunday's loss will be hurtful for the Vikings for more than one reason. Kirk Cousins and the Vikings were in the playoff picture heading into Sunday, but with their loss and Washington's win, they are now on the outside looking in.
While still in the hunt, the Vikings' schedule is far from easy. The NFC North team faces the Steelers, the Packers and the Rams as well as the Bears (twice) in the final five weeks, so their playoff hopes have taken a huge hit.
It would have been a huge disappointment for the organization to lose a game that many, including themselves, expected them to win. However, when there is a loser, there is also a winner, and the Detroit Lions were the big winners in Sunday's games.
Coming in, Dan Campbell's men were 0-10-1. Having been so close in their last three games to getting their first win, they finally made the breakthrough against Minnesota. With a 16-16 tie against Pittsburgh followed by a 13-10 loss to Cleveland and a 14-16 loss to Chicago, the Lions might have felt like a win was never coming.
However, the football gods were smiling on the team on Sunday as Jared Goff led Detroit on a final drive that ended with wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown catching his tenth pass of the game to give the Lions their first win of the year.
Tice and the Vikings will now have to lick their wounds after the shock loss that will hurt for some time. Up next for the Vikings is a home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers as they look to bounce back from handing Detroit their first win of 2021.
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